Building skills for the digital economy

• Developing digital skills is critical both for job success and to participate fully in a digital society. Basic skills include generic competencies like searching online, communication via email, or instant messaging, as well as the ability to critically analyse and verify the reliability of information, use work-related online platforms, and knowledge of digital financial services.
• Tens of millions of future jobs in the online economy will require far more advanced digital skills. As such skills become increasingly important for employment, substantial “talent gaps" may emerge between workers proficient with information and communication technologies (ICTs) and those without good skills.
• Gaps in qualifications are exacerbated by socioeconomic inequities for many people, such as the lack of Internet access at home, limited training opportunities, outdated mindsets, and unequal financial situations.
• While an estimated 2.6 billion people are largely offline, billions of people who are connected still lack the basic skills to use digital devices and services. Beyond basic digital literacy, today's economies and communities need advanced and specialized skills in areas such as data analysis, programming, artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity.
• Generative AI, computer vision, reinforcement learning, and predictive analytics are at the forefront of AI technologies reshaping job roles across industries. These technologies are not only creating new job opportunities, but also altering the nature of existing jobs, requiring workers to learn new skills to remain relevant.
• The digital divide is also a skills divide. The Internet user gap – the disparity between the numbers of people with access to, and those using, the Internet – can mostly be explained by education and skills. One of the main barriers to Internet uptake in developing countries is people's lack of capacity and skills to use online platforms and resources to the best advantage.
• To build a more inclusive digital society, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) urges governments, the private sector, academia, and other key stakeholders to act promptly to equip citizens and workers with the necessary digital skills and capacities for the job market and civil life.
• Digital skills are key to digital transformation and a significant enabler of each country's digitization. Instilling the necessary skills has become a key part of national digital transformation strategies.
• Strengthening digital skills will narrow the global digital divide. Among the main reasons why people are not using the Internet in developing countries is the lack of capacities and skills, either to use technologies or to benefit from the information and services available online. Enhancing citizens' digital capacities serves to boost Internet use.
• ​Job seekers with digital skills generally have greater success in finding employment. In Europe, for example, nine out of ten future jobs will require digital skills. The ongoing digital transformation is profoundly affecting labour markets globally, necessitating widespread upskilling and reskilling initiatives as well as the promotion of lifelong learning for all generations to enable job seekers to enter the workforce or adapt to emerging employment opportunities.
• According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), by 2030, 90% of all jobs will require some level of digital skills. Additionally, 65% of children entering primary education today will work in jobs that do not currently exist. This underscores the importance of digital skills as a foundation for all workers. Organizations that do not invest in digital skills risk being left behind, missing business opportunities, and remaining vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. While automation and economic disruptions could end many current jobs, new jobs will emerge in the field of digital technologies.​​

• ​As advanced digital skills become more important for employment, some experts foresee a shortage of workers with those skills. The growing need for ICT-qualified workers is exacerbated by various socioeconomic inequities, such as the lack of Internet access for many people at home.
• Skills for online safety and the secure use of digital technology are becoming increasingly important to ensure that the public, including children and youth, can critically analyse information and identify online disinformation, fake news and hate speech. The skills that citizens need to be safe and secure online need to continually evolve to match digital threats.
• Digital skills gaps exist in both developed and developing economies, with different wage levels and job options for workers with basic, intermediate or advanced skills. Green and digital transitions could create about 60 million new jobs worldwide according to the ILO, and an estimated one million in the EU by the end of the decade (European Commission, 2020).
• Most organizations plan to adopt AI technologies within the next five years, but as much as 75 per cent struggle to find the necessary skills to implement these changes effectively. The skills gap also presents an opportunity for collaboration between the private sector, governments, and educational institutions.
• An estimated 32 per cent of the world's population was still not using the Internet in 2024, according to ITU data. In high-income countries, 93 per cent of the population uses the Internet, approaching universality. This contrasts starkly with the situation in low-income countries, where only 27 per cent of the population is online.
• One of the main barriers to Internet uptake is people's lack of capacity and skills to use online platforms and resources to the best advantage. The digital divide reflects other existing skills and education divides among populations. Usually, more marginalized groups, including women and girls, are less skilled and educated.
• Education levels are low in many low-income countries, resulting in lower capacities for reading, writing, and languages. The usage gap – i.e., between people's access and actual use of the Internet – is widest in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The digital skills divide also becomes evident as a gender divide. The gender gap among Internet users is largest in LDCs and low-income countries. Girls and women tend to be less educated or digitally illiterate in those countries.
  

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With a wide range of projects that target digital skills, ITU contributes to the strengthening of digital capacities among its Member States. ITU contributes via training for ICT professionals; basic and intermediate skills training for citizens and marginalized groups; a commitment to invest in skills development for young people; and tools and guidelines to design and implement effective digital skills policies and strategies.

Training and capacity development for ICT professionals:
• The ITU Academy offers more than 150 training courses covering a large variety of digital-technology-related topics every year. Courses are delivered by ITU or one of its many training-delivery partners.
• The ITU Academy Training Centres (ATC) programme delivers high-quality training for ICT professionals around the world in the latest digital technologies, policies and applications. The programme currently operates through 14 ATCs across different regions. Courses are offered online, face-to-face, or in blended form. 

​Basic and intermediate digital skills training for citizens and marginalized groups
• The ITU Digital Transformation Centres (DTC) Initiative, launched with Cisco in 2019, aims to strengthen people's digital capacities, particularly in underserved communities. DTCs deliver training through a network of institutions or centres with the infrastructure, expertise, and experience to run training at basic and intermediate levels and operate nationally. The Initiative targets citizens mainly from rural and underserved communities with little to no digital skills. More than 450,000 people have been trained, 54 per cent of them women. The initiative operates through 14 DTCs in Africa, the Americas, and the Arab and Asia-Pacific regions.
• To help close the emerging global AI skills gap, ITU leads the AI Skills Coalition, the UN-leading global and open platform on AI education and capacity building established under the AI for Good initiative. The coalition brings together UN agencies, governments, private sector partners, academia, and civil society to democratize access to high-quality AI training, particularly in developing countries and among underrepresented groups. As a repository for cutting-edge and accessible AI training resources, promoting innovative learning pathways, and supporting national implementation efforts, the AI Skills Coalition helps to equip countries, individuals and communities with the AI skills needed for the digital economy. By mid-2025, the coalition included over 50 partners working collectively to train thousands of individuals worldwide, aiming for at least 10,000 learners trained by the end of the year.

Digital skills investments for young people:
• The ITU-ILO Digital Skills Campaign, launched in 2017, aims to equip 25 million young people with job skills by 2030. To reach this goal, the campaign encourages partners to make commitments to invest in digital skills development for young people. So far, the campaign's partners have made commitments to train over 15 million young people by 2030. 

Tools and guidelines for designing and implementing digital skills strategies:
• ​​The ITU Digital Skills Toolkit gives policymakers and other stakeholders practical information, examples, and guidance to develop a national digital skills strategy.
• The Toolkit was released in September 2024 at ITU's Digital Skills Forum in Bahrain. Nearly 700 participants from 44 countries met at the flagship skills event to address the top priorities for allowing everyone to acquire the skills to succeed in a digital society.
• The ITU Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook is a tool for national digital skills assessments. It can help determine the availability of a digitally skilled cohort at the national level, assess skills demand from industry and other sectors, identify skills gaps, and devise policies to address future digital skills requirements.